


A Shot Across the Bows

by MrFrank



Series: Book One Missing Scenes [2]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-02
Updated: 2014-09-02
Packaged: 2018-02-15 19:43:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2241114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrFrank/pseuds/MrFrank
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Ever since Tarrlok had first come to her with his request she’d been tormented by thoughts of her duty. Surely, her job as the Avatar must entail, at least to some extent, bringing evil people to justice. All her life she’d heard stories of her past lives and their incredible feats of bravery—Aang’s defeat of Fire Lord Ozai, Kyoshi’s victory over Chin the Conqueror. Over and over again, the past Avatar’s had fought injustice, taking down those who would try and lead it into the world.</p>
<p>Now it was Korra’s turn to face down injustice and its harbinger, and she was refusing to fight."</p>
<p>Or the one where Korra deals with feelings of inadequacy, and Tenzin plays dad to everyone who will let him.</p>
<p>"Voice in the Night" missing scenes</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Shot Across the Bows

**Author's Note:**

> Once again, as I continue my foray back into Lok, I find my need for friendship cuteness more than can be fulfilled by episode alone. This started because I felt like Korra's talk with Bolin about Tarrlok and being afraid of Amon was cut a little too short, and turned into a series of scenes to fill in some gaps, mainly for Bolin and Tenzin, and also to begin building a little more on Korra's thoughts about Asami (because I love their friendship and wish it had been a bit of a beefier build up). You don't need to read the other piece in this series for this one to make sense (unless you want to!) Also, keeping with the nautical titles! This one is a phrase referencing a kind of warning shot you would give an enemy ship before attacking. As before, please let me know what you think!

    “Heh, no, it’s not like that, he’s just some old guy who works with Tenzin on the council.”

    “Oh, good, good. That sounds better. I like that better.” Bolin paused for a moment, then asked, “So, why is he sending you gifts? Did you save him too or something?”

    Korra snorted, shaking her head.

    “No. He wants me to be a part of some task force he’s setting up.”

    “Task force?”

    “Yeah.” Korra sighed, leaning back on her hands. “Tenzin told the council about what happened last week. Tarrlok thinks that the threat Amon poses is serious enough that he’s forming a special group to hunt him down.”

    “And he wants you to help him,” Bolin finished. Korra nodded.

    “I already told him I didn’t want to help, but apparently he doesn’t feel like taking no for an answer. It’s kind of annoying, actually. Everyone’s acting like I’m being weird by not agreeing.”

    “I don’t think that’s weird,” Bolin said, settling on the step beside her. Pabu scrambled off his shoulders and scurried over to Naga, who huffed in greeting. “If you don’t want to do it, you shouldn’t have to.”

    “You don’t think it’s weird that I turned him down?” Korra asked, eyeing Bolin suspiciously. He shrugged.

    “Maybe a little surprising, but not weird.”

    Korra rolled her eyes. “Is there a difference?”

    “Of course there is.”

    “And what’s that?”

    “Well, surprising just means that I wouldn’t have expected it,” Bolin said, “While weird makes it sound like you’re doing the wrong thing or something.”

    “Oh.” Korra hesitated, gaze drifting to the gift basket. Then, softly, she asked, “Am I doing something wrong?”

    “What do you mean?”

    “Am I doing the wrong thing turning down Tarrlok?” she asked. “I mean, I know Amon is a danger, and he _does_ need to be stopped. It’s just…” she trailed off with a shrug. “Isn’t it my duty as the Avatar to help bring Amon to justice?”

    “Whoa. That’s a heavy question,” Bolin said. Korra frowned at him, and he continued, “I mean, sure, the Avatar helps people and stuff, but I don’t think that has to mean you _have_ to run around arresting people. Right?”

    “I thought I was the one asking you,” Korra said, although a small smile was pulling at her lips. Ever since Tarrlok had first come to her with his request she’d been tormented by thoughts of her duty. Surely, her job as the Avatar must entail, at least to some extent, bringing evil people to justice. All her life she’d heard stories of her past lives and their incredible feats of bravery—Aang’s defeat of Fire Lord Ozai, Kyoshi’s victory over Chin the Conqueror. Over and over again, the past Avatar’s had fought injustice, taking down those who would try and lead it into the world.

    Now it was Korra’s turn to face down injustice and its harbinger, and she was refusing to fight.

    “Like I said,” Bolin continued, “if you don’t want to, you shouldn’t have to.”

    “I don’t think that arguments counts for me, Bolin,” Korra said. She pulled her knees up, hugging them to her chest.

    “Why not? And don’t tell me it’s because you’re the Avatar,” he said quickly, frowning at her. “You’re a person too. You get to make decisions for yourself, just like everyone else.”

    “But that’s just it. I don’t. As much as I would like to do what I want, at the end of the day I’m still ‘the bridge between worlds,’ the peace keeper for all of the nations. And it’s not that I don’t want to help bring peace, because I really do, it’s just that I…don’t?”

    “You don’t want to bring peace, or you don’t want to bring peace by fighting Amon?”

    Korra’s gaze jerked back to Bolin. He was watching her intently, something she couldn’t quite read hovering in his eyes. She frowned.

    “How do you do that?” she asked. Bolin blinked at her.

    “Do what?”

    “Never mind,” she said. She sighed, resting her cheek on her knee. Bolin watched her for a moment, and she thought he might ask his question again. Instead, he sighed, leaning back on his hands to watch the clouds.

    They sat like that for a while, listening to Naga and Pabu exchange little squeaks and woofs and the sound of Tenzin’s children playing in another courtyard. Korra picked idly at a loose thread in her pants, tugging it and watching it open a small pull through the fabric. Bolin’s words from when he first arrived drifted back to her, and something cold and uncomfortable settled in her stomach.

    “You’re not sleeping?” she asked softly. Bolin shrugged his shoulder.

    “I…think about it a lot.”

    “Do you…dream about it?”

    “Sometimes.”

    “…Me too.”

    Silence fell, twisting uncertainly between them.

    “I dream I’m still in that place,” Bolin finally whispered. He’d told Korra only a little bit about what had happened between getting captured and being rescued off of that stage. She’d wanted to know everything, to know that he wasn’t hurt by his captors, but every time he talked about it his expression would get distant, disconnected, and she would quickly change the subject.

    He wore the same expression now, but before Korra could try and bring up something else he licked his lips and continued,

    “I’m in a cage alone, and it’s dark. I can hear you and Mako nearby calling my name, but it’s too dark for you to see me and you go off in the wrong direction, and then you’re gone and Amon’s there, and he—”

    He sighed, a heavy, shuddering breath.

    “And sometimes I’m in the audience watching Amon on stage, and instead of me he’s got Mako, or—or you. And I try to get there in time, to help you guys, but I’m never fast enough.”

    Korra’s chest tightens, her heart pounding just thinking about Bolin’s dream.

    “I dream I’m at home, and the chi blockers come in through my window,” she said quickly. “I try fighting them, but they’re too quick. And then Amon is there, and he…you know.”

    “Yeah.”

    It’s like her very heart hurts just thinking about it. Judging by Bolin’s expression, he feels the same. She grinds her teeth together and whispers,

    “But it’s my duty to take him down.”

    “But in your own way,” Bolin whispers back. “That’s what Avatar Aang did, right? He defeated Fire Lord Ozai in his own way.”

    Korra still hadn’t found a way to contact her past lives, but in that moment she was almost sure she felt something of Aang pressing against her, reaching for Bolin’s words. She wondered if Aang would have liked Bolin, if they would have been friends the way she was friends with him.

    Of course they would. Bolin could be friends with anyone, and from what she heard so could Aang. They would have been like to friend-peas in a pod.

    They let the topic drop after that. They shared her cupcake before Tenzin’s children found them and recruited them for a game they’d come up with that ended up being little more than having Bolin earthbend them into the air and Korra catch them with long spirals of water. The children’s shrieking laughs helped chase away any of the shadows still clinging to them. By the time they decided to head into the city they were feeling lighter than they had all week.

    They didn’t spend long wandering the streets, quickly retreating to the comfort and safety of the pro bending arena. Slipping into their practice gear, they revealed in the easy flow of finally working out together for the first time in days. Korra was surprised by how easy it was to fall back into their routine, and sank deep into the feeling of exerting herself side-by-side with her friend.

    They tried to have dinner in Bolin’s apartment. They’d hoped that Mako would be joining them, but when he never showed up they simply took it upon themselves to prepare dinner.

   It was a wildly disastrous affair, to say the least. Laughing around a coating of splattered sauce and over-boiled rice, they eventually resigned themselves to dinner at a small stand that served, in Bolin’s opinion, the ‘very best dumplings that ever were.’ When they finished they sat side by side, Bolin’s arm tucked around her shoulder as they watched the people walking up and down the sidewalk, and talked about nothing of substance, and laughed as much as they wanted. Korra returned home with a bag stuffed with dumplings and a light heart.

    Then she spotted the satomobile sitting in front of the temple, a shiny red bow on top.

    That night she dreamed of green eyes and warm embraces, and a masked darkness stealing them away.

* * *

 

    “Korra, are you sure you want to do this?”

    “Of course I’m sure,” Korra said, flipping the breastplate over in her hands. It was stamped with a gold insignia, a reminder of the promise she’d made. Bolin was sitting further down the couch, absently rubbing Pabu’s head. Mako was cooking nearby, quietly listening to their conversation.

    “It’s just, I thought you didn’t want to do this.”

    “I didn’t want to _have_ to do this,” Korra corrected. “But no one’s making me. This is my choice.”

    “Is it?”

    Korra frowned at the earthbender’s narrowed gaze.

    “Of course it is.” Bolin looked unconvinced, but Korra had already had this conversation with Tenzin, and she wasn’t interested in rehashing it with her friend. Turning to Mako, she asked, “So, Asami, huh?”

    “Uh-huh,” Mako said, turning just enough to look at her out the corner of his eye.

    “You met when she…ran into you?”

    “Yep. It was my fault though,” he added quickly, “I wasn’t paying attention.”

    “Right,” Korra said, frowning slightly. “So, is that why I haven’t seen you lately? Because you’ve been hanging out with Asami?”

    “Uh, I guess so,” Mako said as he sprinkled sauce over the stir-fry sizzling beneath him. He shook the pan, scattering vegetable and chicken. Conversations with Mako were never exactly open or flowing like they were with Bolin, and this one was no different. Korra’s frown deepened as she stared at the firebender’s shoulders.

    “Why didn’t you tell me about her?”

    “I guess I didn’t think to,” Mako said. “I haven’t really had a chance to, after all. You’ve not been at any practices since I met her.”

    “Bolin managed to come visit me,” she murmured, pulling her knees up under her chin.

    “What?”

    “Nothing.”

    She could see Bolin staring at her from the corner of her eye, but she ignored him. Her stomach was churning uncomfortably, her chest buzzing with a feeling that made her want to fidget. She tucked her arms tight around her legs instead.

    Why hadn’t Mako told her about Asami, she wondered. She literally knew nothing about the girl, but apparently she’d heard all about Korra. She assumed that the Sato heiress was a non-bender, but she didn’t even know that for sure. Her father was sponsoring the Fire Ferrets in the tournament—had she been coming to their practices, watching them prepare? What if she’s a waterbender, Korra thought suddenly, she could have been practicing with them.

    She shook the thought away. Certainly Mako would have said something if that was the case. And Asami had seemed nice enough, not like the kind of person who would just join herself into a team of people like that. She’d gotten them the money for the competition, after all, didn’t that prove she wanted the Fire Ferrets to work together, as they were?

    Bolin tried to start some light conversation, but the sour mood that had settled over the room refused to be lifted. They ate in silence, and once their plates were empty they exchanged half hearted goodbyes, an uncertain hug from Bolin, and then she gathered her new uniform and returned home, heart heavy with the weight of the iron in her arms.

    That night her dreams were of a pro-bending platform, two backs in bending uniforms turned towards her from across the arena, while a mask leaned over her and took away everything she had left.

* * *

 

    Mako had gone out with Asami again, something about the park and a carriage and blah, blah, blah. Bolin had made fun of his brother’s obvious infatuation and then shoo’d him out with playful calls for him to not let her keep him out too late. Then he settled down at their small table, a Pai Sho board set up before him. Pabu batted at the pieces while Bolin played, battling away with the ferret.

    The radio was playing on the counter, some of the newer, popular music filling the apartment. Bolin tapped his foot with the beat, while reaching for the piece that Pabu was patting with his paw.

    “Oh ho, very nice move,” he said, jumping the piece forward. Pabu chirped at him as he moved one of his pieces to take two of the ferret’s. “But not good enough!” Pabu sniffed at Bolin’s piece and then snatched it up, chewing experimentally on the tile.

    “An unexpected move by the ferret!” Laughing, Bolin snatched Pabu up and tried to get the piece from him. Pabu squirmed and squealed, knocking the board flying before squirreling free and running off with his captured piece.

    “You win again,” Bolin sighed dramatically. As he bent to collect the fallen pieces the song on the radio ended, a news broadcast taking its place. It announced a press conference, being held live, with Councilman Tarrlok. Bolin sighed, half listening as Tarrlok described a raid undertaken earlier in the night, proudly crowing about the successes of his newly formed Equalist hunting party.

    _“Avatar Korra has bravely answered the call to action,”_ he declared, causing Bolin to snort.

    “You mean finally given in to your badgermoleing,” he mumbled.

    _“With the two of us leading the charge,”_ the radio continued, _“Republic City has nothing to fear from Amon and the Equalists.”_ Muttering whispered over the speakers as the conference turned over for questions from the press.

    _“A question for the Avatar,”_ a woman said, causing Bolin’s gaze to dart to the radio. Korra was there? _“Amon remains at large. Why have you failed to locate him?”_

    “Seriously?” Bolin whispered. It was just like last time, their questions seeming less curious and more deliberately leading.

    _“You want to know why?”_ Bolin stopped his collecting, his attention entirely on the radio now. _“Because Amon is hiding in the shadows like a coward.”_ The radio squealed, and Bolin could picture the Avatar grabbing up one the microphones.

    _“Amon, I challenge you to a duel.”_

    “Korra, no,” Bolin gasped, standing up. He moved to the radio as Korra continued,

    _“No task force, no chi blockers. Just the two of us tonight, at midnight, on Avatar Aang Memorial Island. Let’s cut to the chase and settle this thing—if you’re man enough to face me.”_

    The radio squealed again, Korra throwing down the mic, and then the waves erupted with the clamor of the press demanding more answers. None came. Tarrlok mumbled something that was mostly lost in the din, and then the conference was over. After a moment of silence the light strains of a harp drifted over the airwaves. Bolin, now standing over the radio, remembered to breathe again.

    “Korra, what are you doing?” he whispered. Then he shook his head hard—why ask the radio when he could just ask her himself? Spinning on his heel, he grabbed his shirt off the couch and then he was climbing down from the apartment. He could hear Pabu’s little paws scurrying after him, beating in time with the frantic patter of his heart.

    Outside he raced through the streets, bouncing off of people and dodging satomobiles as he ran for the docks. He wondered if Mako had heard the broadcast too, if maybe he would meet his brother, also rushing to find Korra and knock some sense into her. Maybe Tenzin was with her now, shouting down her ridiculous actions. He knew facing your fears was an important thing to do, but this? This was suicidal.

    At the docks Bolin scrambled to find someone who would take him to Air Temple island so late. Eventually he found a ferryman who was willing to get him across in exchange for tickets to their next match, and in short order he was stumbling onto the little island. Air acolytes greeted him as he rushed past, heading for the tall steps that lead into the main temple.

    Before he could reach the steps something large and white came barreling around the side of the building, skidding to a stop in front of him. With a startled shout Bolin stumbled back as he found himself face to face with Korra’s animal guide. Naga whimpered as she butted him with her soft head, ears and tail hanging low. She didn’t even seem happy to see Pabu, who looked just as frazzled from clinging to Bolin’s shoulders as he’d sprinted through the city.

    The cause of the polarbear dog’s distress was easy enough to spot—or hear. Tenzin’s shouting carried clearly from the courtyard. He appeared at the top of the high temple stairs, glider in hand, still shouting angrily to the woman at his side. Chief Bei Fong looked like she wasn’t quite sure if she wanted to scream at him or with him. She pinched the bridge of her nose, head shaking, and with a final shouted, ‘This has gone too far,’ Tenzin spread his glider and launched into the air.

    “She’s not here?” Bolin shouted as Tenzin departed. Lin looked up sharply, eyes narrowing when she spotted him.

    “What are you doing here?” he demanded.

    “Where’s Korra?”

    Her sigh carried all the way down the steps. After a long moment in which she eyed him up and down, she said, “She’s still with Tarrlok. She’s preparing to leave for the island.”

    “Then we have to go help her!” Bolin spun, preparing for another sprint, when the whizz of a metal cable filled the air. It wrapped tight around his waist, pulling him back.

    “Don’t waste your energy,” Lin sighed, cutting off Bolin’s protests. “My men have already tried to intercept her, but Tarrlok’s little task force members stopped them.”

    “So what, you’re giving up?” Bolin tugged on the cable around his waist, trying to bend it away from him. All he managed to do was crack the ground beneath his feet. “Don’t you understand, she could lose her bending!”

    “And you charging in to lose yours would somehow help her?” Lin snapped. “Don’t you think you’ve had enough close calls with the Equalists?”

    “We can’t let her do this alone,” Bolin said, ignoring the rush of panic the chief’s question caused him. “Tarrlok’s letting her walk into a trap!”

    “One the Avatar set herself! If she hadn’t joined Tarrlok’s task force, and she hadn’t baited Amon, then this wouldn’t be happening.”

    “It’s not that simple!” Bolin ground out.

    “Of course it is.” Lin pulled back her arm, and the cable around Bolin retracted with enough force to knock him on his back. He groaned, pushing himself up on his hands as Lin marched down the steps and past him. He looked up at her, and she paused, not meeting his gaze.

    “The Avatar has a lot to learn about this city and its people, and she’s going to make a lot of mistakes figuring that out. Don’t let her pull you down with her.”

    “The only mistake she’s making is thinking she has to do this alone.”

    Lin huffed and squared her shoulders.

    “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

    Bolin remained sitting, listening to the firm stamps of the metalbender’s boots against the path as he returned to the dock. He was sure she took his ferry, as it had been the only one at the dock, but he didn’t care. She could leave if she wanted to. He wouldn’t.

    He wasn’t sure how long he sat there, slumped in front of the temple. One of the air acolytes stopped by, kneeling beside him to ask if he was alright, or if he wanted to come inside. Bolin shook his head, thanking them quietly. They must have told the other acolytes to leave him be, because no one else bothered him after that. Even the white lotus guards ignored him, but that might have had more to do with the polarbear dog wrapped around him than any gesture of kindness.

    It was Naga who noticed the figure swooping in overhead, woofing as Tenzin landed lightly at the base of the temple steps.

    “Is she alright, is she coming back?”

    Tenzin jumped, spinning to face the earthbender as he leapt to his feet. It was a moment before the furrow in his brow smoothed with recognition. He sighed, leaning against his glider as he said,

    “No. I couldn’t convince her to change her mind.”

    “Then we should go with her,” Bolin said. Tenzin sighed, rubbing his forehead tiredly.

    “I’m not sure that our presence would be very welcome, I’m afraid.”

    “But she needs us!”

    “Unfortunately she doesn’t see it that way.” A heavy sigh escaped the master airbender. He lowered himself to sit on the steps. “I think this might be something Korra needs to do alone.”

    “Why would anyone need to face Amon alone?” Bolin asked. Tenzin eyed him closely, and then a small, tired smile pulled at his lips.

    “I’m glad Korra has been able to make such good friends here.”

    “Oh, uh,” Bolin felt his cheeks flush and he shrugged uncertainly. Tenzin’s smile grew, and he patted the step beside him.

    “We can wait for her together, if you’d like.”

    “Uh, thank you.”

    “You’re one of Korra’s pro-bending teammates, aren’t you?” Tenzin asked as Bolin took a seat.

    “That’s me. Are you uh, a fan?”

    “Not especially. I certainly wasn’t when Korra first wanted to join your team.”

    “Oh. Sorry,” Bolin mumbled.

    “Don’t be. I might have been being a little closed-minded. Joining you has done wonders for Korra’s airbending techniques. Despite your lack of…conventionality.” Bolin shuffled his feet, trying not to smile.

    “Glad we could help.”

    “Hmm,” Tenzin nodded. Silence fell between them. Bolin looked down at his hands, not sure if it would be better to try and come up with some more conversation or to just let Tenzin have some quiet. Frowning, he rubbed his thumb across his knuckles, brushing at the dirt caked there. He usually wasn’t too worried about the usual layer of dust that coated his hands, but sitting next to the manicured airbender and his pristine temple was making him feel downright grimy in comparison.

    “I never knew an earthbender who didn’t always have a layer of earth with them.”

    “Huh? Oh.” Bolin fumbled with his hands, but when he looked up it was to see Tenzin smiling softly at him. Worry lined the older man’s eyes, but something else hovered in his gaze as he looked down at his young companion.

    “I know the story of how Korra joined you and your brother in pro-bending, but I don’t think she ever told me how you two got started.

    “Oh, you know, just some lucky breaks.” The worry still clung to Tenzin, but interest was forcefully overshadowing it. He’s trying to distract both of us from our worry, Bolin thought.

    The whole story poured out of him then. He told Tenzin about living with his brother on the streets, about working odd jobs just to be able to afford food. At first he skirted the details involving the Triple Threats, but when he realized there was no judgment coming from the monk he told those too. Tenzin nodded solemnly as Bolin mumbled through the death of his parents, and smiled with him when he talked about how fiercely his brother had fought to protect them both.

    “He sounds like quite the young man,” Tenzin said.

    “He is,” Bolin agreed softly.

    They fell into silence again, although this time it was a little more companionable. They stared off together, gazes on Avatar Aang Memorial Island glowing softly in the distance. Bolin liked to think that he could make out Korra’s imposing figure from even this far away, standing tall and proud at the head of the island. Alone.

    His chest ached with the thought.

    Eventually there was movement at the front of Air Temple Island, lights bobbing through the night’s darkness as a ferry meandered its way towards the dock. Tenzin stood, gripping his glider tightly as they waited to see who would disembark.

    “Should we go over there?” Bolin asked. Tenzin, brow furrowed, looked like he’d been considering the same thing. After a moment he nodded, but before he could move the sound of pounding footfalls reached them through the darkness.  The ferry’s passenger was coming to them.

    “Where is she?” they shouted. Bolin shot up, eyebrows rising as the familiar figure thundered into view.

    “Mako!”

    “She’s still at the island,” Tenzin said.

    “Alone?” Mako snapped. His gaze darted from Tenzin to Bolin, hesitating for a moment on his brother. He turned back to Tenzin as the airbender said,

    “Korra would not be stopped. Thanks to Tarrlok, she believes this is what she has to do.”

    “Well, it’s not.”

    Tenzin agreed with a sigh.

    “It’s been almost an hour,” Mako continued, “Has anyone checked on her yet?”

    “Tarrlok’s men are watching the island,” Tenzin said, distaste clinging to his words. He thumped his glider on the ground and the fins unfolded. The arrival of yet another of Korra’s friends seemed to have spurred something within him. “But I do agree; it’s time for Korra to come home.” Wind swirled around him, buffeting the brothers as he launched into the air.

    Once Tenzin was gone, Bolin picked up on the distinct burn of his brother’s gaze. He turned to find amber eyes narrowed suspiciously in his direction. Bolin did his best to hold in the sigh at the fight he could feel beginning to brew between them.

    “What?”

    “What are you doing here?”

    “Same as you,” Bolin said, arms crossing tightly over his chest.

    “You were going to try and go with her, weren’t you?”

    “So were you!”

    “Bolin, she was going to meet Amon!”

    “Exactly! That’s why she needed someone to go with her!”

    “And you decided that someone needed to be you because…?”

    “Because you weren’t around to volunteer.” Mako scowled as Bolin continued, “I know I’m not as strong as Korra is, but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t at least try and help her.”

    “That’s not what I meant,” Mako huffed, scrubbing his hands through his hair. “You’re plenty strong. It’s just—it’s not safe!”

    “That’s exactly why Korra needs someone with her,” Bolin said, but Mako was shaking his head before he’d even finished.

    “I’m not just talking about Korra’s safety. Bolin, I just—” he paused, hand gripping his scarf, “I only just got you back. I can’t lose you again.”

    The fight melted out of Bolin’s body and he sighed, sinking back down on the steps. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled.

    “I know.” Mako dropped down beside him. “I’m sorry I yelled. I just worry, you know?”

    “I know,” Bolin said, a smile pulling at his lips. “I’m just really worried about her.”

    “Me too. But Tenzin’s looking out for her.” Mako bumped his brother’s shoulder. “He’ll take care of her.”

* * *

 

    Tenzin sat with Korra long after all her tears had been spent, her face buried in the folds of his robe. A part of him, the part still burning with the terror of seeing her lying unmoving in the dark, wanted to chide her for the danger she’d put herself in. It also wanted to wring Tarrlok’s head from his snake neck, but that too would have to wait.

    Instead, he whispered gently, telling her aimless tales of his children or his siblings, anything to give her mind something else to think about. When he’d finally coaxed a small laugh from her with the story of Meeko’s first, disastrous airbending stunt, he figured they should head home. She shook off his attempt to help her walk, but when he draped his arm over her shoulders she didn’t protest. Tucked close to his side, they walked together to the small boat she’d arrived in.

    She propelled the boat through the bay with slow windmilling motions, scooting them along at a gentle pace.

    “I’m sorry I made you worry,” she mumbled as Avatar Aang Island drifted into the distance.

    “I’m just glad you’re safe,” Tenzin said. “Your friends well be too.”

    “My friends?” Korra asked, looking back over her shoulder. He nodded.

    “Your pro-bending teammates. They came to the island when they heard you on the radio. I think if they’d been able to waterbend they would have just come straight to you.”

    “Oh.” Korra lowered her arms, and their boat slowed. “Are they…still at the temple?”

    “They are,” Tenzin said. “Or, they were when I left anyway. Although I’m sure they will have waited for you.”

    “Yeah, probably,” Korra mumbled. Tenzin couldn’t see Korra’s face, but he was familiar with the way she pulled in her shoulders, her back curling.

    “They were very worried about you,” Tenzin offered gently.

    “Because I made them worry.”

    “Just as you worried about your friend when he was taken by Amon.”

    “That was different,” Korra said. “Bolin wasn’t taunting Amon into a fight.”

    “Bolin wasn’t being goaded on by Tarrlok though, either.”

    “I shouldn’t have let him push me like that,” she whispered.

    “You can’t blame yourself for his manipulative behavior,” Tenzin said. “And now you’re on the right path to dealing with your feelings about Amon in a healthy way. He won’t be able to manipulate you so easily now.”

    “He shouldn’t have been able to before!” Korra slammed her fist against the side of the boat, causing water to shoot up around them.

    “Careful!” Tenzin cried as it splashed into their boat.

    “Sorry,” Korra sighed, bending the water back out. “I’m sorry. It’s just…earlier, when you told me to talk about my feelings, I had. A little bit. With Bolin.”

    “Really?” Korra nodded.

    “He told me he’d been having nightmares about Amon and,” she paused, and Tenzin watched her shoulder roll as she rubbed her face, “and so was I, so I told him about them, and about Tarrlok’s offer. He said that I could fight Amon how ever I wanted, not just with Tarrlok.”

    “He was right. Korra, look at me.”Korra sniffed, wiping her cheek as she turned to him. Her eyes were glazed with fresh tears and the fear that she’d done the wrong thing. “You’re friend is right. You don’t have to be any kind of Avatar except the one that you want to be.”

    “But I have to maintain balance in the world,” Korra whispered. “I have to protect people.”

    “There are more ways of protecting people than you realize,” Tenzin said softly. “Have you had any luck contacting your past lives yet?” Korra hesitated, then shook her head. “Keep working on it. They have all had to help very different people, in very different ways. They can help you with this.”

    “I hope you’re right.”

    “I am.” Tenzin offered her a smile, which she tentatively returned. “Let’s go home, shall we?” Korra nodded, her smile growing. She brushed away her tears and, standing at the prow of her boat, propelled them home.

    Back on the island she was greeted with warm hugs and relieved tears from Bolin and a strained ‘glad you’re okay’ from Mako. They didn’t push her for details about what had happened, for which Tenzin was grateful. He could tell she wasn’t ready to tell them about her night just yet, but there was one detail she was more than willing to share.

    “I don’t think I’ll be at any more of Tarrlok’s task force meetings.”

    Mako closed his eyes and sighed his relief, while Bolin crushed her in another hug. When it looked like they might just spend the rest of the night hugging in the courtyard Tenzin offered for the boys to stay for the night. They rubbed their heads sheepishly, gesturing vaguely as they mumbled excuses about needing to be somewhere or another tomorrow morning.

    He offered them a ride home via airbison, which Bolin excitedly accepted for the both of them. As he dropped them at the pro-bending arena he thanked them for their concern for Korra. Their sheepish fumbling returned so, hiding a smile, Tenzin shoo’d them off to bed.

    Once he was drifting back over the bay he allowed the smile to spread across his lips. Korra hadn’t been in Republic City long at all, and already the poor girl was making enemies. It was relieving to know, he thought, that she was making a few good allies too.


End file.
